Smut-machine



1. A', wooDwARo.

' smut Mm.

Patented Oct. 20, 1857.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIOE.

JOHN A. WOODWARD, OF BURLINGTON, IOWA.

SMUT-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,484, dated October 20, 1857.

To all whom may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN A. VVooDwaRn, of Burlington, in the county ofDes Moines and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Smut orGrain-Cleaning Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe anneXed drawings, making a part of this speck fication, in whichFigure l, is a vertical central section` of my improvement. Fig. 2, is adetached view of the revolving beaters. Fig. 3, is a horizontal sectionof the beaters and cylinder within which they are placed.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

My invention consists in the employment or use of a scouring devicepeculiarly constructed and placed relatively with blast passages ashereinafter described, whereby the grain may be thoroughly scoured anddeprived of all dust, smutl and other foreign substances.

My invention further consists in the employment or use of a series ofadjustable screens so arranged in the principal blast spout and placedrelatively with the fan that the escape of the offal, that is, chess,light or imperfect grain, etc., may be regulated as desired and when ofvalue discharged from the machine separately and free from dust, or,when worthless, allowed to pass into the fan boX and be dischargedtherefrom with the dust and other impurities. To enable those skilled inthe art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed todescribe it.

A, is a rectangular frame in which a fan boX B is placed and O is avertical shaft the lower end of which is stepped at the lower part ofthe frame A. The fan D is placed on the shaft O and a series of beaters(a) are also placed on the shaft, said beaters being of curved form andsecured to two wheels or bosses (o), (b), which are secured upon theshaft O at a suitable distance apart. A wire screen (c) however isinterposed between the beaters and wheels or bosses and the beaterstherefore it may be said are attached to a cylindrical screen. Thebeaters are attached to the screen or bosses at one edge, the oppositeedges proj ecting outward-therefrom, the curves forming parts ofcircles, the chords'of which are tangential with the screen (c) andwheels or bosses (b) (Z9). The beaters are perforated with holes, whichare punched or drilled so as to forni projecting edges on their outwardsides and perform in a measure the oflice of screens.

On the upper part of the upper wheel or boss (o), a horizontal scourer Dis secured. This scourer is formed of a circular plate corrugatedradially and is placed a short distance below the top plate (ci) of acylinder E which is formed of a series of cast metal rings (ax) theinner surfaces of which are corrugated or grooved vertically as shownclearly in Fig. 3. The upper surface of each ring has small projections(c) formed on them, and the lower surface of each ring is grooved sothat it may fit over the projections of the one immediately below it.The rings are thereby retained in proper position and'spaces are allowedbetween the rings for the escape of dust as will be presently moreparticularly referred to. The rings are also of slightly taper form,transversely, that is, their sides are out of parallel, the top surfacesbeing narrower than the lower surfaces as shown clearly in Fig. 1. Thecylinder E encompasses the beaters (a) as shown clearly in Figs. l and3, and the cylinder rests upon a platform F on the top of the frame A.The lower part of the cylinder communicating with a spout G which leadsinto a blast spout H. The spout H is of curved form and extends aroundfrom one side of the frame A to the other, and a pendent spout I isattached to the spout H the spout I i being directly over a hopper (f)which is at the center of the plate (el) The spout I-I is provided witha slide (g) at one side.

The lower part of the cylindrical screen (c) communicates by means of anopening (7i) which is made through the bottom plate h) of the cylinderE, with a passage J the lower part of which communicates directly withthe external air, one of the orifices (i) being shown in Fig. l.

One end of the blast spout H terminates in a chamber K, in which aseries of screens are placed one over the other. These screens are allpivoted at their ends to the sides of the chamber K, and they areconnected by a rod L by operating which the screens may be moved oradjusted similar to the slats of a blind. The back part of this chambercommunicates by means of an opening (le) with a passage M leading to thefan box B. The lower end of the chamber K is provided with a door orFlap N. The opposite side of the spout H is provided with inclinedledges or delecting plates (l) the use of which will be presently shown.

The operation is as follows z-The grain to be cleaned passes into thelower' part of the spout I and thence into the hopper f) and downbetween the scouring plate D and top plate (d) of the cylinder E. Thegrain being scoured by the plate D and then passing down between theinner and corrugated side of the cylinder E and the beaters (a), it isstill further scoured and acted upon until all the smut is broken andthe dirt scoured from the grains. The shaft C is rotated by any propermeans and the beaters (a) owing to their construction and arrangementperform the double function of beaters and a fan, and while breaking upand pulverizing the smut also blow the dust through the spaces betweenthe rings (ax) of the cylinder E, see Fig. 1, in which the blue arrow(l) indicates the direction of the blast generated by the beaters (a). Ablast is produced by the fan D in the spout H as indicated by the redarrows. This blast is also produced in the spout I, as indicated by theblue arrows and the grain before passing into the scouring device issubjected to a blast which deprives it of its loose and light foreignsubstances, the grain after being scoured being subjected to a thirdblast in the lower part of one side of the spout H said blast beinggenerated by the fan D. The grain is thrown from one side of the spout Hto the other by the deflecting plates (Z) so as to expose it as much aspossible to the action of the last. The sound grain passes out of thelower end of spout H while the light grain, chess, &c., is carried bythe blast around the spout H, the dust and fine oal passing through thescreens (j) and through the passage M into the fan boX B from which itis ejected by the action of the fan, the light grain, chess, &c.,falling into the lower part of chamber L from which it may pass throughthe flap or door N. The screens (j) being so adjusted by operating therod L that the light grain cannot pass into the fan boX. When howeverthe light grain and inferior substances are not worth preserving thescreens (j) are opened so that all may pass into the fan box.

I do not claim the curved spout H nor do I claim broadly and separatelysubjecting the grain to two or more separate blasts while passingthrough the machine, for this has been previously done, and curved blastspouts have been previously used; neither do I claim separately any ofthe parts described and forming a part of the scouring device; but,

Having thus described my invention what i I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is.

l. The scouring device formed of the beater (a) attached to thecylindrical screen (c) in combination with the scouring plate D andcylinder E formed of a series of rings placed one over the other withspaces between them, when the device thus constructed is placedrelatively with the blast passage J and F, substantially as describedwhereby the grain is thoroughly scoured and subjected to three blastsand thoroughly separated from the inferior grain and lighter foreignsubstances such as chess and the like.

2. I further claim the adjustable screens (j) placed in the chamber Kand arranged relatively with the fan 'boX B as shown,

'whereby the chess and lighter and inferior grain may when of sufficientvalue be discharged from the machine separately and in a clean state, orwhen worthless allowed to pass into the fan box to be ejected therefromwith the finer and lighter foreign substances.

' JOHN A. WOODWARD.

Witnesses DAVID KEISER, D. KREIBER.

